Augsburg vs Mainz Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 22, 2015 @ 02:40 pm

Augsburg continued to occupy last place in the Bundesliga with a heaviest defeat of the season to Dortmund. Mainz for the 3^rd time in a row at home lost at the expense of Werder Bremen who are 1 of the few sides below them in the league.

Augsburg were simply outplayed in the first half of the game at Borussia Dortmund and you almost felt sympathetic for the onslaught they encountered. Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran riot and had the luxury of time and space in abundance. Augsburg manager Markus Weinzierl would’ve had stern words at half time and made a double substitution which had a positive effect as Augsburg managed to get a goal back just 4 minutes after the restart. Raul Bobadilla got the goal and could’ve made it a nervous finale for Dortmund had he seized upon Mats Hummels error but he missed and Dortmund wrapped up the game with 2 more goals. Veteran midfielder Piotr Trochowski made his first start in the Bundesliga since February 2011 but even his experience in midfield couldn’t prevent Dortmund from winning comfortably.

Things weren’t much better for Augsburg’s opponents on Saturday, Mainz. Mainz weren’t exactly full of confidence welcoming Werder Bremen to the Coface Arena but nevertheless faced a Bremen side who had lost 5 on the bounce. A catastrophic spell at the end of the first half ended any chance of Mainz getting a result as they conceded 3 times in the space of 8 minutes. Only a late consolation from Yoshinori Muto gave the home fans something to cheer about but even by then many supporters had left the ground. It was also against the run of play as Mainz looked the better side but Anthony Ujah scored when Mainz goalkeeper Loris Karius misjudged a cross and then Mainz decided to hit the self-destruct button. Mainz can take some confidence away from the Coface Arena as away from home they’ve gained victories against Borussia Monchengladbach and Darmstadt and also had creditable performances against Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen despite losing marginally.

Mainz have won the last 3 times against Augsburg but the scorers in the 2-0 victory in March earlier this year have both moved on. Shinji Okazaki has left whilst Ja-Cheol Koo moved to Augsburg this season and the midfielder will line up against his former employers who he had 2 seasons with. Julian Baumgartlinger has made the most tackles in the Bundesliga with 40 which is more than double of any of his Mainz colleagues. 

Augsburg are likely to name the side that started the 2^nd half against Dortmund after an improved showing. Mainz have a midfield crisis and they weren’t helped with the injury to Danny Latza in the defeat to Werder Bremen who joins Fabian Frei and Christian Clemens in midfielders unavailable.

Augsburg

Stats: W-1 L-7 D-2

Recent Form - LDLWL

Mainz

Stats: W-4 L-6 D-0

Recent Form – LWDLL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Augsburg (4-4-2) – Hitz, Max, Callsen-Bracker, Klavan, Feulner, Kohr, Baier, Koo, Moravek, Werner, Bobadilla.

Mainz (4-2-3-1) – Karius, Jara, Bell, Bungert, Balogun, Moritz, Baumgartlinger, De Blasis, Jairo Samperio, Malli, Muto

Injury List/Suspended Players

Augsburg – Stafylidis (inj), Jeong-Ho (inj)
Mainz – Latza (inj), Clemens (inj), Cordoba (inj), Frei (inj)

League Positions